Hi - I'm quoting you a month later to ask if Times Square is still not back to normal. We are staying at the Lowes Regency and I feel that this whole trip we are in Times Square and Little Italy and I know that in Chicago the Uber's have almost quadrupled in fare prices, taxi's are alot and subway probably isn't an option this time between covid and the time we need to travel (shows and dinners). I'm just really re-thinking staying "so far" away lol. Me and mom are old school and we dress for shows and dinners, but walking in the heels is a whole 'nother story. LOL
@Cindy's Mom Sorry, I didn't answer sooner, I wasn't online much for several days. And it took some time to compile this ever-growing list. I like to annotate my examples so people don't just have to take my word for something. Some of these incidents sound too crazy to be real, but, unfortunately they are. And there is usually a surveillance video of the attack in the links, so you can see how brutal some of them are, IF you want to watch, and then decide if you want to take the risk.
As for NYC getting back to normal, it probably won't get anywhere close to normal, crime-wise, in the Times Square / Theatre District, for quite some
MONTHS. (More about that in the next post.)
In fact, the situation throughout NYC has gotten WORSE. It's like being caught in some live video game where assailants think they rack up points and get a rush for randomly attacking people and then seeing if the can get away without being caught. The more crimes that are reported, the more it seems to spawn similar crimes, as others want to do it TOO. Many of them already have a criminal record for doing similar crimes. But, due to new laws, they are out on bail or parole instead of being imprisoned. So, they just keep doing more assaults. So, it's not just the homeless or mentally ill people doing the assaults.
Just
Y.E.S.T.E.R.D.A.Y, it was reported that a
27-year-old female tourist was punched and then hit in the head with a glass bottle just before 7pm. The attack was totally unprovoked. No words were exchanged between the suspect and the victim prior to the assault. The suspect then fled the scene. The victim is now recovering at the hospital. This happened on the E train at the Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station.
3 days ago a
man was slashed in the head in the Times Square subway station, also before 7pm, just at the end of rush hour. It didn't matter that it's one of the busiest subway stations in NY, during a crowded, busy hour, or that this station is well patrolled by cops. If the cop isn't standing right there, able to grab the knife, it doesn't matter.
5 days ago:
a man was stabbed 5 times at the 59th St/Columbus Ave subway station while trying to break up a fight. It could be argued that the man unfortunately got involved with a domestic dispute. Even police are very leery about getting in the middle of domestic disputes. But the NYC mayor actually said once that it's up to the citizens of NYC to help stop the crimes, (because the NYPD aren't able to stop this.) This Good Samaritan got involved and this was his thank you: the man in the domestic dispute was carrying a knife and stabbed him 5 times, and BOTH the man & the woman were charged with assault when finally caught.
Those two subway stations border the north & south ends of the Times Square / Midtown West / Theatre District. Each of those stations have been the locations of multiple attacks. About 7 attacks (that I
know of) at Times Square, and about the 5th at 59th St.
If you stay at the Lowes Regency, (which is on the east side?) you'd take a train from the 59th St/Lexington station to the Times Square area. On May 30, a 64 yr old man was surrounded by two men, beaten and slashed while trying to leave that station. Attacks at the turnstiles or Metrocard machines, and on the stairs, are really popular now.
Look at the horror for the poor man in this video: ⬇
https://abc7ny.com/subway-attack-station-robbery-slashing-upper-east-side/10727108/
While I was looking for the link for that, I found another
subway slashing attack, same station, different train, a couple weeks earlier. The E train at the Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station I mentioned earlier, where the tourist was hit with a glass bottle, is a station in between your hotel & Times Square. The E train makes 3 other stops in Times Square where that assault could have happened instead.
Another time,
a 51-year-old man was stabbed during an argument in a Harlem subway station.
Even an
off-duty NYPD transit cop was slashed in the back of his head, again at the 14th St station, 6 days ago. The article says: At the same time, there was another incident at a 125th Street station, an argument between two men over metro card swipes led to an altercation. Another time, a
subway conductor was stabbed several times while on a platform. He was actually able to hold the suspect down until police arrived.
A month ago: another
Good Samaritan passenger tackled a man, who had just stabbed a woman twice, from stabbing her to death on the 14th St subway station platform.
A few days after that
a couple getting on the 2 Train at Times Square were slashed in the train. Meanwhile there were 2 more unrelated stabbings a few subway stops north of that, a couple hours earlier by a different person.
The attacks aren't just below ground. As the city is re-opening, a week ago,
a 25 yr old was shot to death in normally quiet Chelsea, out front of the posh, celebrity filled, famous, Tao Downtown restaurant & expensive Dream Hotel next door. There were bystanders outside who could have been accidentally shot. A few days after that, at the
same restaurant/hotel, the 18yr old driver of rapper French Montana was punched and robbed at gunpoint while Montana was inside the building.
On June 14, the news reported
22 Shot, 5 Dead Within 72 Hours, all around the city. I can't even begin to count the stabbings in and around the city - not just the bad sections of NYC, because people travel. The stabber who was tackled above by the Good Samaritan at the 14th St station took a joy ride down from the Bronx. The gunman outside of the Tao Restaurant came in from Long Island.
Carrying a knife/box cutter isn't unusual anymore in NYC. 3 days ago, a campaign volunteer for one of the mayoral candidates was stabbed multiple times with an ice pick on the sidewalk. It probably had nothing to do with the mayoral candidate as the assailant left his home with a knife and ice pick, which were found at the scene. So, he was determined to pick a fight and stab
someone.
A couple days ago, an
off-duty NYPD officer was surrounded by 6 men and was hit with a baseball bat several times, outside a deli. The police don't think the men knew he was an officer.
Children are being caught in the crossfire, too. I already reported in a previous post how a 4 yr old bystander was shot in Times Square. Four days ago, as a person was running down the street in the Bronx,
trying to escape a man shooting at him, he topples over two children, strangers to him, who were on their way to get candy from a nearby deli. You can see in the video, after he knocks them down, he then tries to use them as a shield as the gunman continues to fire about a dozen bullets at him, hitting him 3 times. Meanwhile the young girl shielded her little brother from the gunfire. Miraculously, the children were NOT shot. This crazy gunman, thankfully, knew how to aim. Although the man he shot is alive.
I don't watch the news every day as it can be overwhelming. So, I may have missed some. However, every day that I do watch, there is another assault being reported.
MY suggestion is, since you DO have some choices, is to either choose a hotel closer to the areas where you want to go and
wear sneakers with the dress while walking around the city. Then swap them out for your dress shoes once you get to the venue. Tuck the sneakers in a handbag you brought with you to do the swap. We do that all the time here. I just stand in front of the theatre or restaurant and swap out my shoes on the sidewalk, by the entrance. Then walk inside dressed to the nines.
You can take a bus to some places, although it will take longer.
And/or take cabs everywhere instead of the subway. While some may argue that your chances of being the ones randomly victimized on the subway are low, I
personally, am not willing to take that risk
at this point in time. I'm lucky enough to not work so far away that I HAVE to take a subway twice a day, hoping & praying my trips are safe and uneventful. I wouldn't make the cab suggestion if I wouldn't and haven't done it myself. This is
my cab receipt from a few days ago. I had to get some supplies I couldn't get in my neighborhood. Normally, I just hop on the subway there and back, easy-breezy. Instead, I took a longer bus ride there. Then, hopped in a cab for the trip back. (I did pick up extra supplies as I knew I was cabbing it back. So, I don't have to make another trip for quite some time.)
As for the free COVID vaccinations, it cost me $50 for 2 round trip cab rides for the Pfizer vaccinations. So much for the vaccinations being "free" for me. Normally, I'd lazily hop on the subway down, then walk the mile-ish back, stopping at a couple stores on the way home. But, there are too many homeless hotels between me and the Javitz Center, and too many news stories of the crimes in my neighborhood now.
I really feel for anyone who HAS to take any subway regularly now. Good thing you can drive in. 
Three of the attacks, slashings with some type of razor weapon, happened within 12 minutes. A fourth person was punched and the fifth was stabbed in the eye. All five attacks happened within 3 hours, by 4 assailants. They were still riding on the subways some time later, when they were finally caught.
